Agnieszka Wyszyński, nee Bieniarz, comes from Rzeszów, her birthplace. She met her future husband, who is a Polish American, in Poland. In 1998, she arrived to the US using a fiancé visa.
Interviewed by Anna Muller on 2nd August 2015 in Hamtramck.
I am from Reszów and I came here to the US in 1998. My husband, who has been in the US for more than 50 years, visited Poland to see his cousins. We met there, back in Poland. And one of the reasons he came to Poland was that he was looking for a Polish wife. And so we met. For 2 or 3 years we wrote letters to each other and we decided that I should come here. My husband is an American citizen and he has been here for a long time. So I decided that I’m leaving everything, my family, my work and I came here, to the US. Of course, I came to [inaudible]. And I came because I was given a fiancé visa… under the condition is that I had to get married. So we got married. In October it will have been 17 years since we got married. So this is how I came to [inaudible]. I really hadn’t thought that I will be here. I’d never thought that I’ll go to the US but this is how my life turned out and I am here.
My impressions, when I came to Hamtramck. I was a bit disappointed by what I saw. I’m from Rzeszów, it’s a big city, very nice and when I came here I saw a different style of buildings, those houses were totally different than those in Poland. At first it was hard for me to get used to it. It took me some time. When I came here, I had to handle all formalities connected with emigration. I had to go to the immigration office in Detroit, next to Mount Elliot. And when me and my husband came to Mount Elliot I was totally shocked. There, for the first time in my life, I really saw it. My husband watched American films. Poorer districts, where there are homeless people and all that. What I saw in Mount Elliot revoked those films and it was a shock for me because the for first time in my life I’ve seen burnt houses, with planks on the windows but that was outside [inaudible]. But actually [inaudible] is surrounded by Detroit so whenever you leave [inaudible] you are in Detroit. Anyway, in the city I found pros really quickly. There are Polish churches, Polish shops, Polish library, Polish bank. It all made Poland seem closer that I really got used to it quickly. And Ania, of course. We started working in the Polish Credit Union. When Ania came to the Credit Union it turned out that we live in the same street and it was amazing. It was an advantage for me that there was a Polish garage, Polish library and Polish press. And it all encouraged me. For the first couple of weeks it seemed to me that I wanted to go back to Poland. I had those moments that I wanted to go back to my nicer city. It was a bit different here. But now, after so many years I’ve been here, I got used to it and I like it here. But the city has also changed. It’s not the same city as 20 or 30 years ago. There are some Polish shops but there aren’t as many Polish restaurants as before. A lot of Poles left the neighbourhood and moved to other districts. We still have a lot of Polish residents in [inaudible] but it’s not what it used to be 20 or 30 years ago.
Here, in Hamtramck, when I came to the US, I was roaming the streets to see the city. And there were a lot of nice, trimmed houses. The grass cut, some flowers, everything nice, no weeds. Mostly, they were Polish houses. Later I found out that those were Polish houses. Afterwards the Polish community, who had been here, it comprises various cultures. People all over the world. From Asia, Europe, Africa. So the characteristic thing for the Poles was that they really cared for their yards and houses. Even once somebody told me: “You know, Agnieszka, when you see a nice house with flowers, it definitely belongs to Poles.”
I really like it here, in Poland. I really miss Poland, Reszów. Rzeszów has changed a lot. I mean, when I left, it was a nice city. The president of Rzeszów has done a wonderful job, everything is so nicely planned and developed, he is one of the best presidents in Poland. I really miss Rzeszów. I don’t know, I wanted to go back there once. Besides, I have no family here, I have no children so… On the other hand, the entire family of my husband is here. And I still think of Poland. I’ve been here for 17 years and I’ve never had Polish TV here because I knew if I had Polish TV, I wouldn’t learn the language. So I’ve been watching American TV, news, etc. the whole time. It allowed me to improve my language. But since now I’m doing really good when it comes to English I want to have Polish TV. When I talk to my family I cannot understand a lot what they are talking about. No matter if its culture, economy, politics, anything at all. I just want to be able to watch Polish news so that I know what is happening in Poland.
I’ll tell you what I really dislike. I dislike that there is so much concern about racism in America. It means that we encounter it every day. Whether it’s on TV or even you can experience it in a place where you are. You feel the tension and it’s a really strange feeling because I’ve never met with that in Poland. We don’t have that in Poland. Maybe now we do, I don’t know, really. But not to such an extent as during the past few years. I thought that it will all become milder and slowly decrease. And it’s all going in the opposite direction. It’s becoming more and more aggressive and there are more black murder victims. And it causes great tensions between the white and the black. And there is a lot about firearms. Here, a lot of people have weapons. Detroit is not such a safe city.
I don’t feel American. I’ve never really adapted here, in this country. There are a lot of things, I just can’t say that… I wasn’t born here. The only thing I have here is a job and I’m trying to obey the rules here and all. I pay taxes and so on. But it seems to me that it’s just a temporary situation for me. That I’ll come back to Poland one day. But, on the other hand, I am afraid. It seems to me that Poland has changed so much that it will be really hard for me. Living here took a great part of my life. You work, have a family, and my dream is to come back to Poland but I’m really afraid of going back. It seems to me that I won’t be able to find myself there. Or that it will take me a couple of years. It took me a couple of years here to adapt and it still isn’t… But I think that I really miss Poland. It seems to me that Poles like to complain. But maybe it’s hard in Poland, it’s hard for the people. At nights I can still see my Rzeszów and the clubs I used to go when I was a young girl. And my family home. I just fear that now Poland is different. So, in order to get closer to Poland, one has to be up-to-date with Poland. TV, magazines and some papers that can bring Poland closer to us.
